marck Anne, chiefly
because of all the camps of our beloved territory Bismarck is the only
one she hasn't visited. Therefore, it is concluded she must have come
from there."

"Bismarck Anne!" repeated the Easterner, wonderingly. "She isn't the
one----"

"The very same. She's about as bad as they make 'em, and I don't believe
she misses a pay-day dance a year. She's all right, now; but you want to
come back a little later. Anne will be drunk--gloriously drunk--and very
joyful. I will say that for her. She has all the fun there is in it
while it lasts."

"Whew!" whistled the Easterner, in dazed repulsion, looking with
interest on the girl's animated face.

"Oh, what do you care!" responded the miner, carelessly. "She has her
fun."

Bismarck Anne jumped into the nearest man's arms, was kissed, bestowed a
slap, and flitted away down the room. She deftly stole the accordion
from beneath the tall look-out stool on which a musician sat and ran,
evolving strange noises from the instrument, and scampering in and out
among the benches, pursued by its owner. The men all laughed heartily,
and tried to trip up the pursuer. The women laughed hollow laughs, to
show they were not jealous of the sensation she was creating. Finally
she ran into the proprietor, just turning from relighting the big lamp.
The proprietor, being angry, rescued the accordion roughly; whereupon
Anne pouted and cast appealing glances on her friends. The friends
responded to a man. The proprietor set up the drinks.

The music started up again. Miners darted here and there toward the
gaudily dressed women, and, seizing them about the waist, held them
close to their sides, as a claim of proprietorship before the whole
world. Perspiring masters of ceremonies, self-constituted and drunk,
rushed back and forth, trying to put a semblance of the quadrilateral
into the various sets. Everybody shuffled feet impatiently.

The dance began with a swirl of noise and hilarious confusion. Bismarck
Anne added to the hilarity. She was having a high old time; why
shouldn't she? She had had three glasses of forty-rod, and was blessed
by nature with a lively disposition and an insignificant bump of
reverence. Moreover, she was healthy of body, red of blood, and reckless
of consequences. Pleasure appealed to her; the stir of action, the
delight of the flow of high spirits, thrilled through every fibre of her
being. She had no beliefs, as far as she knew. If she could have to